Would it be sacrilegious to suggest a retro rebuild back to standard gauge? That would be something to see - a 2-8-2 authentic turn of the century Rio Grande standard gauge engine running excursions on the main! Nice catch, Kevin. And as always, a welcome history.
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I like Mitch's idea! I'll contribute! Nice history and shot Kevin.
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These engines have a reputation as being bad to derail. They are only slightly heavier than the esteemed k36. May there could be a competition between the UofC and UNM engineering departments to come up with a solution. Something to do with the pony truck apparently.
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The k-37's reputation for being hard on the track and derailing easy wad due to the Durango and Silverton's experience with 497 before trading her to the Cumbres and Toltec. 497 had a damaged pony truck which was repaired by the Cumbres and Toltec. After the repair there was no more problem. The folks at the D&S remain unconvinced though. The C&T currently has 5 working locomotives and plans to restore 2 more, so they have little need to revive 497. The D&S won't try another k-37, and are in the process of working out a trade of k-28 478 for the C&T's k-36 483. It is likely that it would be cheaper for the D&S to rebuild one of its idle k-37's than the k-36 they are trading 478 for, but they much prefer the k-36 because of their experience with 497. If you want to see a k-37 run you'll need to visit the Colorado RR Museum next summer.
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Mitch: The K-37 class 2-8-2s were originally built as Class C-41 standard gauge 2-8-0s before rebuilt into narrow gauge Mikados.
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